Who’s she?

Those non-Hawai’i folks who tune into the debate this evening may see an unfamiliar face in the spin room after the candidates are through: Linda Lingle is one of a few Republican governors who’ve been invited by BC04 to attend, and Hawaii Public Radio just told me that she will be providing “commentary” to media outlets once it’s over.

Hawai’i is generally a Democratic state, so I suppose this is an attempt by the Bush-Cheney people to draw some local votes towards the President on the cheap. We haven’t seen a candidate here (other than Ralph Nader) since the Democratic primaries, and we’re certainly not going to see one at this late stage of the campaign. The upside is that we haven’t been subject to the Presidential ad wars all the swing states have found on their television screens.

Not to drag this out or anything, but I think Nader visited in July and our Democratic primary wasn’t until September. Kucinich was here in February, so I guess neither has been here “since the primaries.”